The Roots of Desire: The Myth, Meaning, and Sexual Power of Red Hair Marion Roach Bloomsbury July 11, 2006 Considering the love that red headed literary figures get on our site (see here, here, and here), I was pretty stoked when I found this book. However, it certainly did not live up to its promises….
Dogears: Magic, Bullies, Noir Fiction, and the Secret Lives of Wait Staff
Full Fathom Five Max Gladstone Tor Full Fathom Five is the third book in Max Gladstone’s amazing Craft Sequence which takes place in a world where magic and religion go hand in hand, though not in the way you might think. Believers sign contracts with their gods, gods can be killed and resurrected as the…
Dogears: Korean Jane Eyre, Polish Fantasy, and Everyday Barf
Re Jane Patricia Park Pamela Dorman Books May 5, 2015 Despite the book’s problems—you know, the colonialism and portrayal of Bertha Mason—I have always loved Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. I loved how independent and even snarky she could be for a 19th century heroine. Jane’s return to brooding, jerky Rochester at the end of the…
Dogears: The Next Generation of Unapologetic, Obstinate Busybodies
How it Went Down Kekla Magoon Henry Holt and Co. October 21, 2014 Do you know the phrase, “there are two sides to every story?” Instead of two, this book presents about a dozen. The only facts of the story—presented in a foreword titled “The Incident”—are that black teenager Tariq Johnson, was shot twice by…
Dogears: All About the Monsters
Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer FSG Originals February 4, 2014 Wow. I often go out looking for strange, great science fiction and just cannot find quite the right story to quench my thirst. Luckily, my friend handed this to me when she was done reading it. It also comes recommended by Stephen King, which is usually enough…
Dogears: An American Wife in Black
American Wife Curtis Sittenfeld Random House September 2, 2008 American Wife began as a 2004 non-fiction article in Salon where writer Curtis Sittenfeld, a self-identified “staunch liberal,” confessed her love for first lady Laura Bush. This fascination eventually evolved into American Wife, Sittenfeld’s third novel. American Wife follows the life of Alice Lindgren, a bookish…
Dogears: Fantasy, Feminism and Child Stars
All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1) Ally Carter Scholastic January 20 2015 I love Ally Carter and she’s one of the few authors that I consider an autobuy thanks to her wonderful Gallagher Girls & Heist Society series. Sadly, this new series started out not with a bang but a pretty disappointing whisper. Its lead,…
Dogears: Blasphemy!
Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady Florence King St. Martin’s Originally published in 1985, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady combines some of my favorite genres: memoir and the American South. I am a born and raised Texan (which straddles the line between the South and the West). Southern fiction writers such as Flannery O’Conner,…
Dogears: Murder She Wrote
The Murder of Sherlock Holmes James Anderson W H Allen & Co This is a Murder She Wrote novel. When I found it, in the charity bookshelf area of Homebase (a DIY outlet), I lost track of my eyeballs as they shot out of my head and skittered away across the lino. I didn’t care….
Dogears: Peanuts and Unconventional Narrators
Schulz and Peanuts David Michaelis Harper I think I’ve discovered the secret of life — you just hang around until you get used to it. -Charles M. Schulz
Interspecies Architects: Short Book Reviews
Where’d You Go Bernadette Maria Semple Little Brown and Company Where’d You Go Bernadette is a book that has been on my to-read list for over two years. Now, having finally found time to read it, I deeply regret not bumping it to the top of the list much sooner.
Dogears: Short Book Reviews
Changeless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel Gail Carriger Orbit Changeless is the second book in the Parasol Protectorate series. A five-book series set in Victorian England, but with an alternative history where supernaturals (werewolves and vampires) are accepted as members of society. Alexia Tarabotti, the heroine, is soulless which means she is unaffected by the powers…